Monday, December 8, 2014

Glen Eira Chess Club's first full year is coming to a close, with the Club Championship and Reserves tournaments nearly over. This Friday sees the last official night with one round scheduled. Both tournaments are essentially would up, though some final changes could still happen.

The Championship sees the master players leading the field. FM Domagoj Dragicevic is currently leading with 6.5 though he has finished all his games. Domagoj is guaranteed second place, though IM James Morris could still overtake him if he wins his remaining games. James is due to play Rad Chmiel this Friday and has one outstanding game against Sarah Anton. James is currently on 6 points so he needs only one win to take outright first. I'm sitting in third place with 5 points but can count myself fortunate to have come away with my game against Rad Chmiel with half a point. I can still be caught by Sarah Anton though she has to beat me and James which will not be easy. Though I can't speak for everyone, I've found the tournament enjoyable, and a great way to end a first year for the club at its current venue.

The Reserves event is currently being led by Max Phillips who has dominated the event. The fact that Max can still be caught is down to him missing games through illness. This tournament really highlights why this club was set up in the first place. I'd been coaching a bunch of kids who had really become too good and needed a different environment to practice. With no genuine chess club in the area, we could encourage the kids to travel across town to other clubs (and some of my students have done exactly that in the past) or we set up a new club to cater for these kids and the other chess enthusiasts in the area. These young players can't get enough chess and some of them will be making the trip to Canberra in January to play in the Australian Junior Championships.

Finally a quick shout to a couple of our players who have travelled interstate. IM James Morris, and Rebecca Strickland are currently competing in the Australian Young Masters event in Adelaide. James is the top seed in the Masters tournament which he won last year. Rebecca is competing in the second tournament, the Junior Masters which is for players below 2000. Rebecca is rated in the lower half of the field, but anything can happen in junior events, and the top seed has already lost a game on the first day. Junior ratings are very unreliable with most young players capable of beating players rated much higher than they, but also being able to lose to players much lower.